Getting Apps for Google Cardboard
Once you have a viewer, you need to download Google Cardboard apps. The best app to begin with is Google’s Cardboard app. It provides a tutorial on how to use Google Cardboard and also has some sample apps that take you on virtual reality tours, including a walk through a jungle, a French museum, a futuristic world more. It’s a free app and really whets your appetite to download even more content for the device.
The Google Cardboard Experience
I got started with Google Cardboard by using it with the new Verizon Droid Turbo, a seriously slick Android phone with a gorgeous display. I download a couple of free Cardboard apps from Android Play, including Cosmic Roller Coaster–a stomach-churning, yet exciting ride through the Solar System; Lanterns for Google Cardboard, a zen-like traipse through a virtual world decorated with beautiful paper lanterns; and DinoTrek VR–which simulates an exploration through a world with dinosaurs.
Some apps worked better than others. For instance, the DinoTrek app was more akin to looking at a 3D movie through those red and green 3D glasses given out at a movie theatre. The app also froze my phone a few times.
By far, my most favorite app (and by the squeals of my co-workers who tried out Google Cardboard) is the Cosmic RollerCoaster. With Google Cardboard, you truly feel as though you are zooming along a rollercoaster throughout space. It is an immersive, beautifully-visual, and exciting experience.
There are other apps for Cardboard, including ones for children, apps that go along with movies (there is a really creepy app for the movie Insidious, Â for example). There are even pornography apps, I am told. As with other apps, you usually get better quality for the ones that cost a few bucks.
Many in the office asked me if Google Cardboard works with iOS. It does and there are apps in iTunes available.
For Developers and Entrepreneurs
Google Cardboard isn’t all about entertainment. It has very real value proposition for businesses and entrepreneurs. Many companies are starting to leverage 3D, VR content as part of their marketing strategies and into events. The New York Times recently causes a stir by sending its subscribers a pair of Google Cardboard to view NYT’s 3D content.
Fortunately, Google has made the API for Cardboard available to businesses and entrepreneurs who may want to create their own Google Cardboard app for their business and projects.
Great Way of Getting VR
Google Cardboard provides a fun, affordable, and very accessible way to experience VR and to incorporate VR content into a business. It’s a 4/5 out of 5 star-rated product for entertainment hardware and one we highly recommend trying out.